Thank you for your extremely kind comments.

Did you read the heading of the ad? "For Sale - Film & Digital SLR's + 3 Point-n-Shoot"

Yes I misquoted the Nikon Model F. I am sorry for that and I hope it is not a hanging offense. I am a Canon user.

Does that mean I cannot try to sell the Leica on UHH?

Here is a link to the full original for sale list https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-638374-1.html#11068838

Respectfully
Brian Stone

It's good to know that there is still at least one person who believes "That No Good Dead Should Go Unpunished.

In searching for an alternative to Acronis Backup software, I have tried to use Easytodo software. It is inexpensive and seems very straightforward to make a backup. BUT, the ability top restore is essential and for this, you need some kind of rescue media that will boot the computer from a flash drive or disk drive. Easytodo seems to make creating a rescue drive somewhere between incomprehensible and impossible. If you follow the instructions in the tool menu to create rescue media, you end up with a non bootable ISO on your flash drive. When I contacted their tech support for help, I was told that I had to convert the ISO using software called Rufus. When I downloaded Rufus, it gave me a choice between creating another ISO file, or a Win pe file that would require changes to my BIOS to work. I finally gave up.

Has anyone in this forum had experience with Easytodo and success in creating rescue media. Incidentally, Their tech support did try to download software to a flash drive on my computer, but the flash drive was not recognized by my computer and it was impossible to reformat it.

My desktop machine (Win10, originally Win7 2015) is starting to show signs of age and I am considering replacing it. My wife of 4 years is a mac user and I have been a windows guy since about 1990. I have no problems with windows but I see some advantages of a uniform platform in the house. When I had an android phone, text messages between my phone and her iPhone sometimes took 24 hours to get through. My email works on my iPhone and my desktop but they are separate. The spam definitions on the desktop do not extend to the iPhone, while hers are common to both her iPhone and her Macbook Air. Not a really big deal but it means I get a lot of spam on my iPhone.

So I started to look at Macs. First I looked at the Apple website and saw a few things, but no pricing. I looked at the website of the Micro Center, whom I have dealt with for many years, and they had what looked to me to be a limited selection, most of which were all-in-one machines. I'm used to modular, with lots of third party options.

My current rig is a quad core I7, 24 GB ram, 1TByte C drive, 2 TByte J drive, a 3TByte R drive (used for local Crashplan) the tower has 7 USB connectors, most of which are used for one thing or another (e.g. three external hard drives, a dongle that drives the keyboard and a trackball, a tablet (which I need to use more). I have two monitors working on it, and if I get a real desk to put it on, I will have three.

I have not really done a lot of research but what I've done hasn't shown me anything that looks like what I have now when it comes to Apple stuff. Windows stuff I would have no problem building something similar.

So since there are a lot of dedicated Apple guys out there and since I'm really unknowledgeable when it comes to Apple, I'm open to suggestions as to Apple machines. The problem is not urgent, the system is still working, but it occasionally requires reboots, and they report problems restarting. Shortcutting the startup checking gets me to something that works. I am not committed to getting into Apple, but my wife would like it (and you all know how important that could be).

I have a dust problem with my Tamron SP 150-600 lens. I can clearly see the dust on the second lens and there is one large nib that shows up on every shot. I have a lot of other litte nibs that show up and when I'm editing a photo I know exactly where to find them in the photo. I know it not a sensor issue because it is cleaned regularly. Any recommendations on how to get rid of the dust? I disassembled the front lens element and. Cleaned the second several years ago and that helped for a while.

Thank you for mentioning some of these issues! If I used any of those flowery laundry additives, odor masking sprays or anything that permeates any item for the long term and continually off-gasses, my dear wife will murder me in my sleep. That's why I clean stuff with detergents, solvents and if possible, with plant-based cleansers. Some of the solvents I use are indeed toxic so I use them in well-ventilated areas and allow the cleaned item to simply air out.

I am sure there are high-tech methods utilizing ozone, however, I have no experience with that methodology. I suppose if someone does a great deal of decontamination or deodorization, the necessary equipment would be a sound investment.

A few months ago I did an industrial assignment in a legal medicinal cannabis grow operation- super high tech. There was a vast room with multi-thousands of plants growing under orange sodium vapor lights. The place had a weird smell- not your usual street-pot stench. I was told it was "ozone"! After 4 hourss in a hazmat suit and a mask, I was glad when the job was over (ugh- PU)!